Merry & Bright: Spreading Christmas spirit among city employees

Katie Huber, Lafayette police dispatch supervisor, takes on role of secret Santa for a child, whom she does not know and will likely never meet. LPD coordinator Angie Ferguson started the One Name; One Outfit program in 2012 to help children of working parents.(Photo: Ron Wilkins/Journal & Courier)

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Kids leaf through holiday sale ads searching for Christmas toys, not clothes, but toys are not necessarily what they need.

"Working at the (Hanna) Center actually taught me a lot. It opened my eyes to a lot of things. You see people differently,” explained Angie Ferguson who coordinates anonymous gifts from city employees to needy children.

Ferguson temporarily stepped away from the Hanna Center job in 2012 to care for her ailing father, but she knew the need persisted in her absence. That year, she started a citywide effort to help children of struggling parents.

“I still knew there were children who needed things," she said. "I know there were kids who needed outfits."

So Ferguson, who also is a civilian coordinator at Lafayette Police Department, made these children her priority, starting "One Name; One Outfit."

"I'm always very supportive of working parents," she said. "We have working parents that struggle and won’t say they need help.

"Those are the ones I try to go after and help.”

She gives the benefactors the child's first name, his or hers size and age, as well as favorite colors. Those who participate in the program then buy a new outfit, wraps it and gives it to Ferguson, who then gives it to the child.

Ferguson knows that others will buy toys for most of these children, so she wants them to have new sets of clothing.

Ferguson reluctantly talks about the program, as well as a morale-lifting Christmas decorating contest inside city departments, which she started. The entry fee for the judged contest goes to Lafayette School Corp.'s "The Closet," which is an outlet that provides free clothes and personal hygiene items to students.

The contest might be for fun, but don't be fooled. It's a competition fueled by rivalries.

In past years the Parks Department dominated the Christmas decorating competition, she explained. But this year, the police department beat the rivals, Ferguson said as she doesn't even attempt to conceal her boasting.

The more humble side of Ferguson emerges when asked why she refused to have her picture taken for this story. She doesn't want the limelight or recognition, she said. It's the way she was raised.

Instead, she's bent on spreading Christmas cheer — even introducing a new elf-on-the-shelf game in which the elf is actually a creepy clown doll, which is making its way through the police department.

The game and contest are both in good fun. But the outfit gifts make a real difference.

Katie Huber, the Lafayette police dispatch supervisor, participates each year in the One Name; One Outfit.

"It's important to give back," Huber said. "It’s not fair to these kids that they don’t get some of the things that other people do. It’s nice to be able to help.

"You just wished you could do more, give them more.”

For Ferguson, the games, the contest and the gift-giving are a break from the bleak sights and sounds of police work.

“Christmas time to me always brings out the good in people,” she said.